Now, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson warns that if Detroit City Council wins its legal efforts to block the transfer of control of the convention center to a regional authority, he's done negotiating.

And he'd try to lure the North American International Auto Show to Oakland County.

They're some bold words from a man who never is at a loss for a controversial statement.

And as detailed in a Detroit News story, Patterson says that spending five years trying to come up with a solution to expand Cobo - which raises funding and control issues that we've watched ad nauseum - is long enough.

"If this thing goes down, I'm done," Patterson said in the article.

Cobo needs a $288 million, 160,000-square-foot expansion to bring it up to current convention hall standards - and keep the auto show, which has said for years that the space is too small.

Despite the recent compromise on how to fund and run it, Detroit City Council went nothing but theatrical over their opposition. Hence today's court hearing.

Count me among the people who consider Patterson's "showboating" - according to Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano - as a call to action.

Five years is too long. And watching this debacle continue is a fine reminder that this region has a long ways to go. The auto industry is dragging this state down.